Today’s guest post comes from Jeff Wilcox, an associate at the Hill Ward Henderson firm in Tampa. He will be presenting at the Florida Law Alliance Fall Employment Law Conference taking place on Friday, November 10, 2017 (see below for more details):

Are you making deductions from your exempt employees’ pay? If so, you may lose the right to classify the employee as exempt and, as a result, may end up owing the employee overtime pay for all overtime hours worked over the last two, or possibly three, years.

As a general rule, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not permit deductions from an exempt employee’s salary, because the salary cannot be dependent on the number of days or hours he or she works, or even the employee’s quantity or quality of work. There are, however, limited exceptions where deductions can be made. For example, if the employee is absent from work for one or more full days for personal reasons, a deduction is permissible. Moreover, if the employee is absent from work for one or more full days for sickness or disability, and the deduction is made in accordance with a bona fide “sick leave” plan, policy, or practice, a deduction is again permissible. Other limited exceptions exist, and it is important for employers not to deduct from an exempt employee’s salary unless one of the exceptions applies.

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